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Re: Hives stolen looking for help

Yeah a 1 ton a 12' flatbed a loader and a half an hour gets 100 hives for someone willing to take the risk. Overloaded a bit for sure but that isn't going to bother a crook much maybe they even "borrowed" that for a night.

Re: Hives stolen looking for help

It isn't the load of bees being stolen that is hard to believe... It is the nobody seeing it that is hard to believe. Truck loads of bees attract a lot of attention...I have hauled truck loads of bees and am constantly stopped by curious onlookers when at the filling station or getting ready to make a turn at a light.

That is the South for you.... that Good ole Boy mentality is one of the things I dislike about the South... A dozen people could see something and nobody is going to say a thing about it.

I have seen a few posts about people who are expecting to receive Nucleus hives from Russell Apiaries this spring.... I think they are likely going to receive the OPs bees. In other words; those hives didn't go anywhere which is why nobody saw them go anywhere.

Re: Hives stolen looking for help

Keeper.... the Good ole boy mentality DOES flourish down in the south... but in this case I think you mis-applied the term. Remember... it was a very small community.... if someone WITNESSED a robbery taking place.... you better believe they would be the first to call the law.... they will get much attention, maybe even get in the paper.... know what I mean??? As I said in an earlier post... a possible reason no one saw anything is cuz it was nothing out of the ordinary.... meaning they have seen the same folks moving bees around before. But then again... they may not have left all on the same trailer. Could have been 5-10 nucs at a time.... now would that seem out of the ordinary for YOU had you been there to pick up some nucs from someone?
There are some truths about the south AND the north also.... but in this case I do not think that is why no one would have seen anything.....just my .02

Re: Hives stolen looking for help

I remember a story told by one of my relatives:

Seems that my relative had a couple neighbors who shared a pasture. They each had a few horses in that pasture. One day, one of them discovered that his bay horse with a white blaze and white stockings had been stolen. The other fellow happened to have acquired a solid bay horse that same day. The first time it rained, the horse with the white blaze and stockings miraculously reappeared, and the solid bay was no where to be seen.

Re: Hives stolen looking for help

Originally Posted by keeper

I have seen a few posts about people who are expecting to receive Nucleus hives from Russell Apiaries this spring.... I think they are likely going to receive the OPs bees. In other words; those hives didn't go anywhere which is why nobody saw them go anywhere.

sure would be interesting if the owner had some way to identify the frames, like they were all plastic etc and the people that got nucs could speak up.

mike syracuse ny
I went to bed mean, and woke up meaner. Marshal Dillon

Re: Hives stolen looking for help

I'm not surprised that people could haul of a truck load of hives. I work in the IT field and I can usually go were I want to go without anyone asking any questions and this includes banks, schools and hospitals. If you look like you belong there you don't draw any attention. My guess is that it was done in broad daylight as that draws the least attention to your acts. I don't think it has anything to do with a good ole boy mentality.

Re: Hives stolen looking for help

Originally Posted by shannonswyatt

I'm not surprised that people could haul of a truck load of hives. I work in the IT field and I can usually go were I want to go without anyone asking any questions and this includes banks, schools and hospitals. If you look like you belong there you don't draw any attention. My guess is that it was done in broad daylight as that draws the least attention to your acts. I don't think it has anything to do with a good ole boy mentality.

I have many "Good Ole Boy" friends where we keep our bees in South Carolina. All of them will tolerate a rude drive, most will respond to an insult with the kindest of squelches, but to the man they would be most likely to grab a thief by the collar and throttle em good. Then they would send the thief to find me and admit he stole something and once said thief apologized they'd be expected to buy dinner for all. After that they would be forgiven having learned a good southern lesson in manners. That's at least the "Good Ole Boys" I hang with down south.

Somone saw what happend - someone driving to work, a paper boy, a ups man, that someone just isn't found yet. The real break will come once the guilty ones get a little heat. Criminals who commit crimes and get away with with it always run their mouths, someone else knows, a girlfriend, wife or mother in law gets mad, the weak link in the chain breaks and suddenly it becomes crystal clear. Criminals who think they are smarter than everyone else, smarter than the police, like to puff out their chest when they think they've gone undetected. Like most of us would do for doing something good at an honest job. Often the thief is very close by, like the arsonist watching the fire, running their mouth in the middle of what's going on to "throw people off the scent", "create confusion" - I would look for the one who's trying to be helpful and talks the loundest and then look hard, that person wants to be close to what's going on for a reason.

Re: Hives stolen looking for help

Out here it's called "homie" dismentality. Same difference. Actually, I'd rather deal with Good Ol' Boys than homies of any race, any day. The difference is a thread of ethics - what you will do, what you won't do. It's like the joke, "what's the difference between a rat and an attorney? There are some things a rat won't do.

Joel has it right - sooner or later, the truth comes to light. A guy who gives it all back, confesses, and does something more to make things right should be forgiven and considered a friend who learned his lesson, as all of us has at some time in our past. A guy who never learns and is a repeat offender, who gets defensive and goes for his gun goes down in flames.

One thing is certain - don't become a beekeeper until you have your branding iron.

Re: Hives stolen looking for help

Everybody preaches standardization in equipment... here is a perfect reason to have a non-standard hive... I doubt anybody will steal a Dadant Deep hive, they are too heavy and the frames will not fit in any other standard box.

Re: Hives stolen looking for help

I really don't mind everything standard except the brand, and the hidden tag, although I admit that I use 10-frame mediums, and I'm going to 2" x 8" material for the short (16 1/4") ends for two reasons. One reason is the finger box joints are VERY strong, the other reason is that the smile handles can be cut a bit deeper for my big, fat fingers.

I guess this thread suggests reason #3 - OK, so it's NON-standard and therefore more identifiable....but are you gonna go make pentagonal beehives so you can spot them a mile away? That might not be the most practical idea.

Most passive observers (ie., non-beekeepers) are not going to notice the difference between a standard Langstroth and a Dadant Extra-Deep. Many are still expecting to see a skep basket hive!

The National registry and state / county ID numbers - a standard code, perhaps (?) - and a website / hotline for stolen bee equipment (Brand you honey extractor, you flash heater, your pump, your decapping tank, etc., as well as your woodenware) is what's going to get stolen equipment returned. Maybe a bit slow, but something is better than nothing.

Now we have the National Bee Laboratory, The Eastern and Western Apiculture Societies, State Associations of Beekeeping Clubs, state troopers, state bee inspectors, et cetera - the structure is there, system could be up and running in a month if all the right people decided that stolen bee equipment $uc&$. A programmer with $$$ in his eyes could make it a smartphone app' and sell it to law enforcement agencies, or perhaps bee inspectors / agricultural commissioners, etc. MTINAZ could get his hives back in 3 months.

Re: Hives stolen looking for help

I've heard many a story of ordinary "good guy" beekeepers calling and notifying proper owners of the whereabouts of their hives, returning hives that got mixed in with their own equipment, asking around at bee club meetings regarding, "Who owns XYZ Apiaries? I found some of his boxes and there's no phone number".

One of my nucs was returned, just because of my color scheme and building style.

Most of us seem to think, "Wouldn't I want him to do that for me? It's the right thing to do." You usually get a friend for life and a vote for president, get to meet other beekeepers, and learn more about beekeeping. It's a win/win situation.